Wellington, Nov 18 (IANS): The toss for the first T20I match between India and New Zealand at the Sky Stadium in Wellington has been delayed due to persistent rain. As per the weather forecast, heavy rain had been predicted in New Zealand's capital city for the evening, coinciding with the timings of the match.

"Heavy rain around Wellington means the covers are on and the toss is delayed until further notice," wrote New Zealand through their official Twitter handle. "Toss at Sky Stadium, Wellington has been delayed due to persistent rains," tweeted the BCCI.

Both India and New Zealand, the losing semi-finalists from the Men's T20 World Cup in Australia, will be facing off in a three-match T20I series, followed by as many ODIs, from November 18-30.

With stand-in head coach VVS Laxman insisting that the Hardik Pandya-led side, without many regular stars, will be looking to play fearless and flexible cricket during the series, it also kickstarts the road towards the 2024 T20 World Cup for both India and New Zealand.

While captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul are missing from the tour along with Dinesh Karthik, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel and Mohammed Shami in T20Is, New Zealand are going into the series without Trent Boult and Martin Guptill.

Squads

India: Hardik Pandya (captain), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (vice-captain and wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umran Malik.

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Michael Bracewell, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Lockie Ferguson and Blair Tickner.